New York state and Orange County Conservative Party leaders joined Republican congressional candidate Alison Esposito and state Assembly candidate Tom Lapolla in a roundtable discussion in Campbell Hall at the County Club at Otterkill on May 29.
Both Republican candidates have been endorsed by the Orange County Conservative Party.
“We feel that we are pushing our ideas and values in many parts of the state, and we very much enjoy campaigning for those who work with us as candidates,” state Conservative Party Chair Gerald Kassar said at the roundtable.
In a fusion-voting state such as New York, the voice of a minority party such as the Conservative Party is elevated when it combines with mainstream parties at the ballot box. For swing districts, conservative voters have a chance of delivering the margin of victory.
Two years ago, when former one-term state Assemblyman Mike Lawler pulled off a surprising victory over five-term Democratic incumbent Rep. Sean Maloney (D-N.Y.) by just 1,820 votes, his win was delivered in part by more than 17,000 conservative votes.
This year, Ms. Esposito is running against freshman Democrat incumbent Rep. Pat Ryan (D-N.Y.) in a competitive congressional district that encompasses parts of Ulster, Orange, and Dutchess counties.
“It is very nice to have the support [that] we have in the Conservative Party,” Ms. Esposito said at the roundtable. “Conservative values transcend party lines. This is not about Republican versus Democrat. This is not a red wave. This is a commonsense wave.”
She expressed her support for parental rights, law and order, and border security.
“Conservative values are certainly American values,” Mr. Lapolla said at the roundtable. “Parental rights [are] my No. 1 issue ... if you destroy the parents, you destroy the family, and family is the foundational unit of society.”
Mr. Kassar noted that he had seen new tactics this year to chip away at the marginal power of conservative votes in competitive districts, such as putting up a candidate in a competitive race with the goal of splitting Republican and Conservative votes in November.
“It is a new tactic that comes out of political operatives that are much more apt to trick the public, than willing to create an understanding of what their candidates stand for,” he said.
Mr. Kassar also hoped for a more respectful attitude toward minority conservative voters amid state-level political discourse in New York.
Grace White, the Orange County Conservative Party’s new chair, said at the roundtable that one of her top priorities is to recruit more young blood to the party.
Ms. Esposito told The Epoch Times that in addition to traditional Republican and Conservative voters, she would also appeal to voters of other stripes in her congressional campaign, just as she did as a lieutenant governor candidate in 2022.
The past Republican gubernatorial campaign by Lee Zeldin and Ms. Esposito flipped an impressive number of independents and Democrats and buoyed several competitive congressional races in the Hudson Valley amid its own failure.
“[A lot of people] are more conservative than you would give them credit for,” Ms. Esposito said. “God, country, family, education, meritocracy, and building small businesses are important to Hispanics, to Asians, to African Americans ... they are important to Americans.
“You are going to see me in cities that traditionally vote at a higher Democratic rate; you are going to see me in Middletown, Newburgh, Woodstock, and Kingston. You are going to see me in communities that traditionally don’t see Republican candidates.”
